Public Servants

Public Servants

Posted by duncan cairncross170tp on December 05, 2016

Two parts to this
One - IMHO a politician is a servant of the people so he/she should serve no other masters - none!
This means that a politician - once elected - should have no other income, nobody else should be able to pay him/her for anything - anything that is ongoing like royalties should be directed to a national recognized charity
In order to make that work he/she should be paid a lot more than presently - at least twice as much
PLUS - I am thinking that he/she should get a "pension" and also be unable to get anything other than that pension for at least five years after leaving office
Two - At the moment politics is a rich man's game,
I propose a wealth limit - if you are a multimillionaire then you cannot also be a politician unless you divest yourself of that wealth
In the UK if you are a Lord/Lady entitled to serve in the House of Lords you cannot serve in the House of Commons unless you renounce your title - pass it on to your heir
(at least it used to be like that)
We could treat excessive wealth the same way - you have to pass your wealth on before you can be elected - and it can't come back!

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We have had MPs that have been on the dole so it’s not just a rich mans game. Rich people are often smart which is one of the reasons they’re rich. I think this is an unreasonable idea that will remove some of the best options for the job. Where’s the evidence that this would help at all?

Graeme Kiyoto-Ward commented
2016-12-05 12:53:33 +1300

I don’t think this would make a meaningful difference. We have one of the lowest corruption indices in the world and this essentially discriminates against the wealthy. Our electoral system has strict rules to prevent elections from turning into a rich man’s game. Nice concept but I’m not sure that the problem it’s trying to solve is significant.

duncan cairncross
published this page in Suggestions2016-12-05 09:08:47 +1300